Google throws its hat into the ring with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), Sony (NYSE:SNE), and Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), companies all looking to develop similar services. The major roadblock being faced now is acquiring programming rights. Traditional cable and satellite TV providers have to pay fees to media companies for the programming they show, which is reflected in the monthly bills customers pay for those services.

If Google and other tech companies secured the right to stream traditional programming via the Internet, it would alter the current TV ecosystem that cable and satellite companies are desperate to preserve.